The asset-management firm BlackRock moved 1.27 trillion PEPE (~$1.98m) off Binance to four addresses. According to Lookonchain analysts, the firm had previously earned a tenfold profit of $2.39m on meme-token trades.
1/ We noticed that BlackRock Fund withdrew 1.27T $PEPE ($1.98M) from #Binance to 4 addresses 2 hrs ago.
And BlackRock Fund made $2.39M(10x) on $PEPE before! pic.twitter.com/WgVnCGXpnt
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 18, 2023
According to Lookonchain, on April 21 BlackRock deposited 1 trillion PEPE on the exchange — at that time the coins were worth $244,000 at an exchange rate of $0.0000002431. By May 5, the firm allegedly sold the tokens for $2.63 million at an average price of $0.000002627.
3/ BlackRock Fund bought 1T $PEPE ($244K at that time) at an average price of $0.0000002431 on April 21, and sold all 1T $PEPE ($2.63M at that time) at an average price of $0.000002627 on May 5.
The profit is ~$2.39M (10x).https://t.co/nK7oHl8uDV pic.twitter.com/UqlG82gmDV
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 18, 2023
Analysts noted that the addresses used the deposit account blackrockfund3.eth. In their view, these are recently created wallets of the asset-management company.
Since the closing of the alleged deal, PEPE’s price has fallen by 66.24%. The asset is currently trading at $0.00000158.
According to CoinMarketCap, the meme tokens PEPE and Milady (LADYS) are trending in search queries, ahead of projects Sui and Arbitrum.
Earlier, the 0xScope team recorded a daily inflow of 3 trillion PEPE tokens worth $46.37 million on centralized exchanges. At the time, experts warned about the risks of a dump.
In late April, PEPE surged tenfold, turning some holders into millionaires.
In May, an unknown paid $120,000 in commissions to purchase the meme cryptocurrency FOUR for $156,000. According to community calculations, the investor managed to realise a profit of $240,000.
Later, Lookonchain reported $20 million in total unrealised profits among the ten largest holders of the LADYS meme token.